Two popular responses to the accounts of Jesus’ feeding thousands of people are: “There must be a natural explanation,” and “It’s a miracle.” Neither is entirely satisfying. More to the point is who did it — Jesus as the presence of the creator. And his initial statement to his disciples reminds us that responding to the basic physical needs of people is part of the Christian community’s calling. youtu.be/OtkaTtkAbCc
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Life sometimes heaps crushing loads on us. We help neither ourselves nor others by mouthing pious platitudes such as “God never gives us more than we can bear,” which is not promised in scripture to start with. But let us trust instead what the Bible does tell us: that God is with us no matter what, and that we have in our power the ability to help one another carry the burdens of life. https://youtu.be/R772AnZfajA This parable is about leaving judgments in God’s hands, about waiting until the harvest to pull up the weeds. When evil is rampant and the threat is immediate, we cannot wait that long, but when there is no imminent danger, it’s sometimes a good idea to allow negative people to continue until others see their behavior for what it is. In fact, much of the time, we can wait and let God do the sorting. https://youtu.be/cHpwf_sLig8 We’re told that “the evil one” snatches away the Word that is proclaimed so that it doesn’t result in anything positive. Evil is always negative and destructive, and it is by hearing God’s creative word that people are brought to faith and enabled to do good things. We are to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and keep on hearing it, so that we remain faithful and able to be God’s instruments in his creative work in the world. https://youtu.be/fIKLxBczWDM
Jesus challenges us, this Independence Day weekend, to wonder about how free we are. Despite the national freedoms that we celebrate, he reminds us that we are often bound by commitments and dysfunctions that keep us from responding to him. Do we have the freedom and daring to reach for the good yoke that he holds out to us? https://youtu.be/q2lnSJb6Dz0 As Jesus prepares his disciples to proclaim the Good News to the world, he reminds them to always remember that each human being is precious in God’s sight. That truth should inform how we live today, how we do ministry and how we encounter every person we meet, including people we do not much like. youtu.be/4O-9cW1aCy4 It is a blessing to have friends we can trust. The more, the better. Yet life often separates us from our friends. They move or we move. Age or infirmities may keep us apart. Then death may separate us. There is one Friend, however, from whom we cannot be separated. It is our loving heavenly Father. God is the eternal Friend we can trust. St. Paul wrote: “God proves his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us.” Count on that love. youtu.be/h4V8ev5MqM0 “Can people change?” is an implicit question in the opening salvo of conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees found in Matthew 9:9-13. The Pharisees are dubious of Jesus’ quest to call sinners and tax collectors into the reign of God. Jesus, who views us through a different set of lenses, is relentlessly hopeful that escape from the things that bind us and transformation into the joyful people of God is not only possible but probable. And Matthew and the crowd with whom he ate dinner that night are among the first to prove him right. youtu.be/y9V8oDrI-Oo Paul’s final words in his second letter to the Corinthian church summarize what Christianity teaches about God as Trinity. We proclaim one God who is revealed as Creator, Savior, and Comforter. youtu.be/dq18cmZJO98 |
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